Journal
APPLIED ERGONOMICS
Volume 114, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104124
Keywords
Pandemic planning; Healthcare ergonomics; Discrete event simulation; Digital human modeling; Sociotechnical systems; Macroergonomics
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This study utilizes Digital Human Modelling (DHM) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to examine the impact of caring for COVID-19-positive patients on nurses' workload and care-quality. The findings show that reducing nurses' biomechanical workload increases mental workload and decreases direct patient care, potentially leading to stress, burnout, and errors.
This study uses Digital Human Modelling (DHM) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to examine how caring for COVID-19-positive (C+) patients affects nurses' workload and care-quality. DHM inputs include: nurse anthropometrics, task postures, and hand forces. DES inputs include: unit-layout, patient care data, COVID-19 status & impact on tasks, and task execution-logic. The study shows that reducing nurses' biomechanical workload increases mental workload and decreases direct patient care, potentially leading to stress, burnout, and errors. Compared to pre-pandemic conditions, when nurses were assigned five C+ patients, cumulative bilateral shoulder moments and lumbar load decreased by 38%, 36%, and 46%, respectively. However, this was accompanied by increases in mental workload (242%), task waiting-time (70%), and missed-care (353%). These effects were driven by the large increase in required infection control routines. Combining DHM and DES can help evaluate workplace/task designs and provide valuable insights for healthcare system design-policy setting and operational management decision-making.
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